What is Nightmare Night?

Feral had been working for most of the day and as for as he could tell it was about noon. He was hungry still only having eaten anything other than a sandwich in the past couple of days. He looked around quickly, scanning the area around him. The apple wouldn't mind one small apple. He looked at the closest bucket filled to the tip with apples. He grabbed one and while making sure no one saw him he ate the apple in two big bites. This pleased his stomach to a point he couldn't explain. He smiled at himself. He went back to work bucking one tree at a time which he found a slow process. He could use magic but that would take practice and he might lose the sad physical shape he already was in. He hadn't eaten, he had slept very little, his last drink of water was the water he drank from the river under the bridge to Ponyville. The same water had later been splashed into Twilight's face when he visited her house. He had really messed up with Twilight and her friends.

As if on cue Twilight's farmhand friend appeared in the distance with a wagon in tow that she had started to fill with apples. When Applejack had left the barn she was told that the Stallion, or Feral they called him, hadn't checked in after he got the job. The last time Big Mac had seen him was when he was being trained to be a farmhand. Applejack now greatly feared whoever this Feral was. He was on the Apple family's land now and as they always did the Apple family would defend their land. Applejack had gone out to collect apples from the baskets that had been filled. She had been amazed at the amount of trees he had bucked in one day. She spotted him after he had spotted her and surprisingly he didn't walk over. After she had seen him he simply turned and continued on with his job, bucking trees.

Bucking trees was much easier to do than dumping apples into a wagon. For one, the wagon slowly got heavier as she continued to dump more and more apples into the wagon while Feral continued on his business knocking down even more apples for her to pick up. Eventually the cart had been filled and Applejack's options were to run after Feral or return the apples to the barn. With much hesitation she turned the wagon around heading back to the large barn she had called home for so long. As long as Feral didn't harm anything then there was no reason for her to worry too much. Applejack had gotten back to the barn and was met by a very hyper Pinkie Pie.

'Hey! Applejack!' Pinkie Pie wore her usual smile.

'Hey, Pinkie. What brings ya here to the farm?' Applejack asked.

Pinkie stopped bouncing up and down for a moment. That's when Applejack realised she was wearing a basket hat on her head with a number of envelopes in it. Applejack recognised the hat from back when she had thrown Pinkie Pie a surprise birthday party and Pinkie Pie had tried to throw Gummy an after-birthday party. It was a long story that had ended in another letter sent to Princess Celestia about friendship. Applejack reached into the basket and pulled out one of the many envelopes in the basket hat.

As Pinkie bounded off she yelled back, 'The whole family is invited.'

Applejack smiled as her friend continued to bound off but ass Pinkie saw the smile she slowed down ever so slightly to savor it, she loved smiles. Her friend eventually disappeared around the bend and Applejack opened, what she was guessing was, her invitation. She was correct and like always Applejack couldn't help but be excited for that night, as Pinkie's partys were always the best of the best. Applejack made sure to offer to take Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Applebloom, who all agreed to come with. Applejack even considered asking Feral but decided against it as he was still much to shady of a character.

That night was the party and despite the short notice half of Ponyville had shown up for it, Pinkie Pie had done quite a lot of invitation delivering. Old friends were catching up with each other, current friends learned about current events and laughed with friends, and if that wasn't enough new friends were being made everywhere. There were too many people to fit in only Sugar Cube Corner so a lot of it had spread into the streets of Ponyville. The markets would have been booming with business if any of the traders had stayed in their stalls. Instead, they all were at Pinkie's party already having the time of their life like they should have been.

The Spirits of Harmony gathered in their usual location for the parties, in Pinkie's room. They liked to discuss some things in private before going out in the public. They had saved Equestria many times and had quickly become role models to the public and while this was easy for some of them it was difficult for others. They tried to talk in private when they could. Today, at this party, though, everyone had arrived in Pinkie's room before Pinkie. This was anything but normal to the group. If anyone was going to arrive at the party it was going to be Pinkie and if her friends knew her at all they would know that she arrived early at all costs and they did know this. Which lead them to wonder, where was she?

About a half an hour before, Pinkie Pie was preping the big surprise for that nights party. She just had to find him first. Apple Acres was a large place but like many things she seemed to just know where to go. She made a couple twists and turns and was shocked when she did not find him. After a while looking she became worried that she would be late for the party, which by her standards meant she was only going to be five minutes early. Eventually she tried calling for him.

'Crazy Stallion? Mr. Stallion! Where are you?' She called. Some of the Apple family probably would have heard her if they hadn't left early to catch the markets before they closed for the party, 'Stallion.'

Out of the quiet of the Acres Pinkie Pie heard a loud thunk and some apples falling from a tree, she had found her surprise. She quickly galloped toward the sound, avoiding empty trees as she went. Obviously, someone had been working extremely hard at getting the apples out of the trees. Pinkie had heard the day before that the Stallion had appeared at Apple Acres and she hoped now that he was still there. When she finally reached the source of the sound he was resting under the last tree. This tree was no different than the other trees except that it was the last one on the Apple property that hadn't been bucked. Feral thought he had done a good job moving quickly so far so he decided to take a rest. Sadly for him, the rest was very much short lived as he spotted the pink mare bounding through the trees. She didn't look like she was going to slow down and that meant bad things for Feral unless he thought of something quickly.

He stood up standing in a firm, locked position facing the progressing mare. He could do a couple different things but being the smart guy he was Feral did them all. As she got closer his horn began to glow, then he side stepped and stuck out his arm. Pinkie realized the effects very quickly. The magic slowed her down dramatically and while Feral still wasn't strong enough to stop a Pinkie Pie on full power, he had insurance. Pinkie Pie hit his arm and using the strenght Feral had inherited from his mother he managed to slow her to a stop.

Pinkie skidded, slid, and spun to a stop. Now sitting on the ground she could see the Stallion in front of her. At the same time it was difficult to see him with his black coat. Luckily, His green eyes shone bright as if they were glowing. Pinkie didn't waste time with introduction or hellos or even many words at all. She very simply got up from her from her seat on the floor of the artificial forest, grabbed Ferals large hoof and pulled him off in the direction of her house. Feral would have resisted but when someone came looking for him like this he could only assume that there was danger afoot and that they had come for his help. He never denied his help to anyone in need and with that strange logic he decided that he would follow her instead of have him be dragged by her.

He was happy to discover this pink mare could keep a good, constant speed that he could keep up with. While they were running Feral often considered striking up a conversation but thought it an inappropriate time. Finally, Pinkie Pie started a conversation and it wasn't the one that Feral would have expected, 'Your gonna love the party,' She smiled, so excited to talk to her new friend-to-be.

When Feral heard the word party he came to a screeching halt. Pinkie didn't understand why he had stopped and while she didn't want to stop, she couldn't show up to the party without the surprise. So she turned toward the Stallion. Pinkie knew his real name but like the crazy mare she was she just didn't use it for one reason or another, "What is it Stallion?"

"What do you mean, party? I've got work to do. I don't have time to go to a party. I still have to pick up half the apple baskets...," He pause as he realized what she had called him, "Wait, what did you call me?"

Pinkie seemed to ignore his later question, "No time for a party maybe but there's no way you can miss a Pinkie Pie Party!"

"I bet I can," He shot back.

Pinkie Pie had seen this before in many of the people she befriended one of them even being her best friend, Twilight. She took her usual approach at this point, she insisted, "Oh come ooooooooooon. Everyone's gonna be there. People are canceling their plans all across Ponyville to come"

Feral thought about the idea of ditching his responsibilities for a night, "No, no, can't be done, I don't even know when the due date is. It could be tomorrow for all I know."

Pinkie Pie giggled, "How do you not know when you have to be done?"

"Well Granny Smith said 'nightmare night'," Feral replied. He hadn't realized when he was making the deal because he was distracted by one thing or another but she had said 'Nightmare Night' and he really had no idea what that was. Of course, as a prideful stallion he very much hated admitting he was really unaware of anything.

Pinkie Pie could tell he was just pushing for when Nightmare Night was and as the kind pony she was, she gave it to him, " That's in a week."

The words struck like bullets. He had work hard for almost two days straight and managed to get all of the apples out of the trees a week early? They had said he might have to spend a couple late nights not spend two late nights and maybe half an afternoon hauling the apples back. Had he really just completely failed to manage his time, given the fact he didn't actually know when he had to finish, but still. Feral wasn't the happiest camper at the moment until he realized what this revelation meant. It meant he could go to this party and have fun with Pinkie Pie, who looked like she had already accepted him as a friend, go do whatever and eat things and know that tomorrow he didn't have to show up for work and could still make the same money as if he had. He suddenly broke into a smile though Pinkie probably couldn't tell in the dark night they stood in.

"Well then let's go!" He exclaimed. The mood swing probably would have startled Pinkie if she wasn't overjoyed by his acceptance. It took them near no time at all to reach Sugar Cube Corner as now the two, official, friends raced each other there. It was a close match and Feral was out of breath by the end but he had managed to keep up with Pinkie. Pinkie looked like she was ready to go again though Feral could tell she was breathing slightly harder. He was still extremely impressed by how fast she could run. Of course, if Feral wanted to he could've made excuses as he was still recovering from his last inconvenience.

When Feral had caught his breath he entered the party with Pinkie by his side. Pinkie Pie quickly left to go meet her other friends in the 'special location' which Feral guessed was Pinkie's room. She left in a rush as the party had already started and from what he knew of Pinkie, which wasn't much, she didn't seem much like she liked being late. He didn't hold her back but he couldn't quite say he wanted her to leave. Feral had been to many a social occasion but back then he pulled a chariot and the most communicating he ever did was getting a 'thank you' from the rider, which in his case only happened once, or making small talk with the people who couldn't actually get into the party for one reason or another and while ponies like that were there ever time he only ever talked to one. Despite this Feral had been trained very thoroughly in how to communicate and he prided himself at how good he was at it but when it came to starting a conversation with someone he didn't know he was sort of at a loss and he didn't want to sound stupid.

Luckily for him in a small, close town like Ponyville, when your new, you tend to get noticed a lot. So, when Feral just sort of stood there, all shy and unable to start a conversation, ponies began approaching. was first asking Feral about his last couple of days which he described in depth to her, which still didn't last more than a couple of minutes as he hadn't done much. Then approached to get to help him with a new batch of something or other coming out of the oven but had left practically everyone at the party aware of Feral's presence and slowly more approached him. He quickly memorized names that he might need later. Cheerilee, a teacher, Aloe, Berry Frost, Berry Punch, Berry Icicle, Berry seemed like a common name, Cherry Berry, Coconut, Millie, Noteworthy, a stuck up pony named, Octavia, a DJ named Vinyl Scratch, and Roma, one of the traders he saw at the market the day before. He even met three little foals who called themselves the cutie mark crusaders. Their names were Applebloom, who looked a lot like a younger version of the orange mare, Sweetiebelle, who looked a lot like the white mare he had seen before at Twilights house, and Scootaloo,who didn't look like anyone, in particular. He smiled as they explained their quest to find their cutie marks and laughed at their many trials, they laughed as well. People still surrounded him and as the crusaders told their tales Lyra asked, "So, what's your talent?"

Whenever someone asks that to somepony everypony's eyes go to that persons flank. When all those eyes reached Ferals flank it near blinded them. Suddenly, a silence fell over the crowd and Feral looked around for the cause. He spotted the mares, including Pinkie Pie, coming from the stairs and assumed it must have been them that caused the silence. He gladly trotted over to the group with a smile on his face.

He turned to Pinkie, "Hi, Pinkie Pie."

Her friends were shocked to see him. The yellow one with the pink hair hid behind Twilight, the blue with the rainbow mane took a threatening stance, the white one that looked like Sweetebelle gave him a look that Feral could relate to those that the nobles would give those who didn't please them, he had gotten it quite a lot, the farmhand mare made sure the blue on didn't do anything stupid, and Twilight took a defensive stance. Pinkie, on the other hand, had a huge smile on her face, like always. She turned to her friends, "SURPRISE!"

After a long whispering conference between her friends they broke and he finally met Pinkie's friends. The white one was actually Sweetiebelle's sister, he could've guessed. She was a fashion designer and her name was a Rarity with a cutie mark of three diamonds. The farmhand was Applejack and, like Rarity with Sweetiebelle, was Appleblooms sister. Her hat reminded him of someone he knew a long time ago who really like one hat in particular. Feral no longer remembered that mares name. Rainbow Dash was reluctant to introduce herself and refused to shake his hoof but before he moved on to meeting the last one he did something that he thought would get her to want to know him, he challenged her to a race. Fluttershy was the last to introduce herself and it took a while and all of the other friends help to build up the confidence to introduce herself which she did almost inaudibly. When he was finally done introducing himself he thought of something.

"I actually have a question for you guys?" He started. They waited for his question, "What exactly is Nightmare Night?" Nopony but Pinkie knew he didn't know what Nightmare Night was and, honestly, it just made him look even more clueless than he already looked to Twilight and her friends but, luckily for him, they were kind enough to explain.

Twilight began, "Nightmare Night is a holiday that has existed in Equestria for almost a thousand years now. It was based off the myth that Nightmare Moon would come and eat you alive if you didn't leave candy for her. The candy was collected by dressing up in costumes and asking around at house. The leftovers were from that night left a lot of candy for towns. Often towns no longer leave the sacrificial candy any longer but Ponyville still does. Of course as you, hopefully, have heard Nightmare Moon was discovered as true and it turns out it was only Princess Luna corrupted by evil after being trapped on the moon for a thousand years. Now Luna comes here every year to visit us on Nightmare Night,"Twilight finished.

Feral didn't show any change in emotion, as he always tried, especially when it was hard not to. Luna? Was coming to Ponyville? And he was in this sort of state? Did she even remember? And why would she have been trapped on the moon? That one was obvious. It had to have been Celestia. But how could Celestia have that power? And what could possibly lead her to do that? There were a lot of questions running through his mind so much so that he didn't realize that everyone was staring at him now. Not all at the same time, one would glance over and then another one would. And then Pinkie Pie asked the question everyone had on their minds.